Smooth Operator Pro by Baby Audio - Dynamic Resonance Suppressor Plugin (VST/AU/AAX)

Praise for our products

Clean up your mix

Smooth Operator Pro attenuates excessive frequency energy in real-time, eliminating harshness, mud and masking. With deep flexibility and state-of-the-art performance, Smooth Operator Pro finally makes "fix it in the mix" a reality.

Instant track optimizer

We’ve engineered the new Pro version without compromising on the fast workflow that made Smooth Operator 1 so popular.

Set the desired target curve, then turn the global threshold knob until the plugin starts rebalancing your audio. Dive into deep settings optionally for total control.

Smooth Operator Pro removes excessive frequency energy as and where it occurs. Dial it in gently and it will feel like lifting a blanket from your speakers.

Resonance suppression 2.0

Where other spectral balancers offer global settings to affect the signal, Smooth Operator Pro brings unprecedented depth: Override the global settings for any frequency node to set individual dynamic profiles across the spectrum.

Examples (within the same plugin instance):
✱ Target the left side at 7500 hz to fix a harsh cymbal.
✱ Address only the sides at 150 hz to clean up the bass.
✱ Tame a vocal at 2.5 khz with a softer compression profile.

Track spacing on steroids

Enable Sidechain mode to use the spectral content of another track in your mix to rebalance any track.

Example: Load Smooth Operator Pro on a guitar track and use the vocal as your sidechain input to dynamically tame the guitar in the frequency areas dominated by the vocal. Or tame a bass when the kick drum hits by attenuating only the most dominant frequencies occupied by the kick drum.

Use Smooth Operator to upgrade your sidechaining game to a new era.

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What people are saying

“Ummm.... holy F*CK. This thing is utterly ridiculous. The clarity it just brought to everything I put it on is mind blowing. Especially the Mix Bus where I don't often put these types of plugins.”

Craig Bauer

Grammy Award-Winning Mixer, Engineer, and Producer - Wu-Tang Clan, Lupe Fiasco, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams

“Smooth Operator Pro is extra smooth - just like I like it! It’s an easy to use plugin to polish out the harsh!”

Ryan "Skinny" Shanahan

Grammy Award-Winning Mixer, Engineer, and Producer - Zedd, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Avicii

“Honestly the plugin is super good. Big pro: the solo function and EQ functionality are fantastic. I really like it and I was actually able to make it work well on a lot of different sound sources, while it being also fun and not too surgical.”

Max Jaeger

Grammy-Nominated Engineer, Mixer, and Producer - Major Lazer, Big Sean, Joji, Ariana Grande

“Smooth Operator is INSANE! the amount of time it saves from having to manually find the bad frequencies, especially in bad recordings, is a game changer! Its user friendly interface makes it so easy to use too. Definitely a staple plugin in my chain from here on, especially on vocals!”

ADP

Producer and Mixer - Dua Lipa, M.I.A., ALT-J

“Wow! Just installed it and I'm hooked. Congratulations on another awesome tool! Loooove the node override! I was able to hone in and tweak specific areas in the frequency without affecting the rest. Certain tracks do need such flexibility and it is such an awesome feature to have!”

Eryck Bry

Producer, Engineer, and Mixer - Lana Del Rey, John Legend, Calvin Harris

“Smooth Operator Pro is the surgeon of all surgeons. I've been using it on vocals, drums, music, you name it. This plug-in gives you so much control. It really allows you to address those unwanted resonances, while also giving you the ability to completely reshape any sound.”

Dacota G

Grammy Award-Winning Mixing and Mastering Engineer - Childish Gambino, Usher, Diplo

“The control I now have with this plugin is incredible. Put it on a 2-bus today and it really bridged the gap balance wise between my car, the studio, and even the crappy phone speaker. It became a container of unwanted frequencies in .5 seconds!! I’m a fan already.”

Cesar Sogbe

Grammy Award-Winning Engineer and Mixer - Prince, David Byrne, Jennifer Lopez

“I’d recommend Smooth Operator not just as a utility for smoothing, but as a creative tool. This thing can do just about anything but your taxes for you.”

Preston "Prizzie" Reid

Grammy Award-Winning Mixer and Producer - Chief Keef, 21 Savage, Alicia Keys, Lil Uzi Vert

Presets by the world’s top engineers

Smooth Operator Pro ships with 184 presets created by some of the world’s most renowned engineers for use in their own sessions.

Preset creators include 30+ Grammy Nominees Craig Bauer, Max Jaeger (Major Lazer, Big Sean, Joji, Ariana Grande), Preston Reid (Chief Keef, 21 Savage, Alicia Keys, Lil Uzi Vert) and Ryan ‘Skinny’ Shanahan (Zedd, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Avicii).

A pro-level spectral workstation

Smooth Operator's spectral processing manipulates each of the tiny particles that make up a signal individually – instead of the whole signal at once. By splitting a sound into individual components, we can rebalance harmonic material more effectively than traditional EQ and compression tools.

Fixing problems is only the beginning: Use Smooth Operator Pro to dramatically re-shape the tonal balance of your tracks with fewer side-effects.

Explore the features

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More details

What are the tech specs?

✱ Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit).

✱ Platforms supported: Mac OS 10.11 and up (including Native Apple Silicon M-Chip Compatibility). PC Windows 10 and newer.

✱ DAWs supported: All major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason etc.

Download Manual

What are the intended use cases?

Below are a few of our favorite use-cases.

✱ Bring clarity to any track
Most signals, whether individual tracks or full mixes, suffer from having excess frequency energy in certain areas. You may not notice fatiguing frequency build-up until you start trimming it away. When you do, you’ll hear your tracks become lighter and clearer. Smooth Operator Pro’s most effective use-case is to make this job easier than ever. Because the plugin works dynamically, it will only target frequencies that surpass the threshold at any frequency, updating its focus areas and intensity in realtime as your signal changes. Use Smooth Operator Pro as an instant track cleaner by selecting an appropriate preset and moving the global threshold knob. Or go as deep and surgical as you need.

✱ Reduce harsh resonances
Harshness can creep up in any source signal when there’s lots of sonic information present. Notching it out band by band with an EQ can wreak havoc on the sound’s original character and introduce problems like phase shift. Smooth Operator Pro reduces harsh resonances by targeting excess frequency build-up only when and where it happens, leaving the rest of your signal untouched.

✱ Low-end control
Smooth Operator Pro works equally well across the entire frequency spectrum. Low end harmonics can often be a struggle to control, even with sophisticated tools like multi-band compression. When you’re dealing with conflicting kick samples or unruly bass that seems to change with every note, it may be a sign that harmonic resonance is building up in the wrong places. Use Smooth Operator Pro’s shelving filters to zoom in on your low end and carve out harmonic space.

✱ Sculpt the stereo field
Sometimes your source sound is just right, except for one pesky area in the left or right channel. Reducing problematic material between channels rarely works well with traditional tools. Smooth Operator Pro’s powerful imaging controls let you adjust harmonics independently of their location in the stereo field. With per-node L/R or M/S imaging options, Smooth Operator Pro can solve problems in complex stereo signals with ease.

✱ Umask your mix
Masking is the phenomenon that explains why sounds cover each other up when mixed together. The culprit is the concentration of energy across similar parts of the spectrum. Skilled engineers can reduce the effect of masking with EQ, but it’s always a compromise between the two sounds in question. Spectral dynamics control can’t eliminate the cause of masking, but it can help reduce it faster and more effectively.

Does Smooth Operator Pro use linear phase processing?

Yes, Smooth Operator Pro utilizes linear-phase processing for the highest possible sound quality.

Which shortcuts should I be aware of?

✱ Add Node: Double-click anywhere on the spectrum
✱ Remove Node: Double-click on node
✱ Bypass Node: Ctrl+click node
✱ Change Node Width: Scrollwheel + hover on node
✱ Instant/Click-Free Plugin Bypass: Click Baby Audio Logo
✱ Activation Screen: Click Smooth Operator Pro logo

Are V1 owners forced to upgrade?

No. Your Smooth Operator V1 license will remain valid and you can continue to download, activate and use Smooth Operator 1 without upgrading. Smooth Operator Pro runs on a separate license key so if you choose to upgrade you will just own licenses for both versions.

Changelog

v1.1 - Released Jun 23rd, 2025:
✱ Auto-Gain compensation feature added (click icon next to Gain control text to instantly match input level)
✱ Lo and Hi Preserve filters can now be adjusted from the frequency display window by clicking and dragging
✱ Visual emphasis added to nodes when Override Global is enabled
✱ Overwrite user preset bug fixed
✱ Various cosmetic and workflow improvements